Taylor Gray Leads Toyota Brigade Friday Night In NASCAR Truck Race At Martinsville

Story By: SAM MAHONEY / TOYOTA RACING – MARTINSVILLE, VA – Taylor Gray scored a sixth-place finish to lead Toyota in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Friday evening. After a last lap incident in Daytona, the 19-year-old has now reeled off five consecutive top-10 finishes.

Gray was one of two TRICON Garage Tundras inside the top-10 finishers with Corey Heim finishing 10th. The Toyota development driver continued his streak of strong performances – delivering his 21st top-10 in the last 22 Truck races.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Martinsville Speedway
Race 6 of 23 – 200 Laps, 105.2 Miles

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Christian Eckes*
2nd, Ty Majeski*
3rd, Chase Purdy*
4th, Nick Sanchez*
5th, Tyler Ankrum*
6th, TAYLOR GRAY
10th, COREY HEIM
16th, TANNER GRAY
19th, STEWART FRIESEN
20th, TIMMY HILL
26th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
32nd, JUSTIN CARROLL
33rd, DEAN THOMPSON

*non-Toyota driver

 

TOYOTA QUOTES

TAYLOR GRAY, No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage

Finishing Position: 6th

Fifth top-10 in a row for you. How was your race?

“Not exactly where we want to be with our JBL Tundra. We want to be contending for wins, but solid points day. I don’t think we got many stage points, but overall – good finish. From where we started practice, and where we qualified. I will take it. I will move on and hopefully have a solid finish tomorrow.”

DEAN THOMPSON, No. 5 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage

Finishing Position: 33rd

What happened?

“Someone packed the 9 (Grant Enfinger) into the fence and I just got stuck behind him. I got outside of him, and I think (Ben) Rhodes shoved him into me. Just hard racing.”

How has the racing been out there? It is typical Martinsville?

“Just typical Martinsville truck racing. Just aggressive. I’m just blessed that I’m safe. Good Lord kept me safe today. I’ve just got to thank Thompson Pipe Group, TRICON Garage, Toyota and Assured Partners.”